Nasal septal reconstructive surgery has many facets. Often it will involve autogenous cartilage drafting and external nasal reconstruction. This is accomplished by going inside the nasal cavity and cutting and removing tissues as part of the reconstructive activity. This type of surgery has several inherent features that impede a physician's ability to perform the procedure. Obviously during the course of the operation, the procedure for nasal reconstructive surgery causes a flow of blood both into and out of the nasal cavity.
The flow of blood during nasal septal reconstruction creates several difficulties associated with the procedure. The blood flows into the nasal cavity in two different directions, both deeper into the nasal cavity from the point of laceration and, in the opposite direction, out of the patients nose. Blood flowing further into the nasal cavity causes choking action and breathing difficulties on the part of the patient which in turn triggers certain autonomic reflexes that are potentially hazardous and can otherwise be obstructive to the patient's well being. Blood flowing forward can obviously be an obstruction to the physician's ability to perform the surgery.
Another solution to the problem of blood flow during nasal septal reconstruction has been the use of a nasal tampon designed to control nasal hemorrhage. Unfortunately, the nasal tampon requires the use of an absorptive sponge that must be moistened prior to insertion. The sponge portion of the nasal tampon must also be compressed prior to insertion, and regains its sh ape as the tampon portion is being inserted, causing abrasions to the inner surfaces to the nose. Finally, the nasal tampon only serves to remove blood from the area and has no control capabilities as to the extent of pressure on the walls of the nasal cavity or the amount of damage that can happen during its retraction.
Therefore, what is needed is a method for simultaneously blocking the flow of blood from going further into the patient's nasal cavity while withdrawing blood flowing in the opposite direction. By performing these two steps simultaneously the physician reduces the likelihood of the patient suffering breathing and choking difficulties caused by the flow of blood and prevents the blood flowing out the patient's nose from obstructing the procedure being performed by the physician.
In the past physicians primarily used gauze to remedy the problem of blood draining out of the nasal cavity. A physician would pack the gauze into the nasal cavity. The gauze was used to absorb the flow of blood. This would help reduce the blood's interference with the physician's operation. However, the use of gauze in nasal septal reconstruction created other problems.
First, the use of gauze had certain limitations. Depending on the size of the surgery, one may not be able to utilize enough gauze to stop the flow of blood because the physician needs space to operate. In addition, gauze does not fully contain the flow of blood in all procedures. This means the physician has to change the gauze several times during the operation. This need to change gauze during a procedure interferes with the operation and increases the time the patient is under anesthesia. It is desirable to limit the time a patient is under anesthesia to as short a time as possible. Yet another limitation involved another type of interference. In using gauze as a sponge, the gauze would be placed in the nasal cavity during the operation and removed afterward. Often times it was found that when the gauze was removed after an operation some of the reconstructed tissue would deform. This is because it had been supported by the gauze during the reconstruction. This created the need to repeat the reconstructive procedure, reinforcing work that had already been done, so that it could exist independently of the support of the gauze. Other than attempting to be more skilled at recognizing the problem, there was little a physician could do to alleviate it. There were various attempts but none that offer the benefits of the instant invention.